Stupid Match Question

Running Chess Tournaments
1

Earlier this year I had a RR tournament in which the winner was to play a four game match against the defending champion. The match ended up 4-0, and after the third game, there was no problem with the players playing a fourth, but I was wondering, since this wasn’t a match just for fun, what if they had not wanted to play a fourth game since the match was already decided after three. Is there a rule that a match has to be an even number of games, and should there be?

To take this a step further, if I were to get someone to agree to a handicap match in which I get White all ten games I suppose that would be ratable since there is no color reporting system, but should it be?

Alex Relyea

2

There are no requirements as to there being an even number of games in the match. If the players opt to stop at 3 instead of playing the fourth game they can do so.

I see no reason why a match where one player plays the same color the entire match shouldn’t be rateable. It’s not a variant on the game. If your opponent was giving piece odds throughout the match then there would be an issue.